Photographer Natalie Krick Shoots Her Mom in Sexy Poses

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Natalie Krick’s mother has put Skittles under her shirt to emulate erect nipples, worn wigs, and slathered her face in garish makeup, all for the sake of her daughter’s art. Throughout the mother-and-daughter duo’s two-year project, which involves the 27-year-old snapping photos of her 55-year-old mother “performing sexuality,”their identities have started to blur together. “It becomes this weird hybrid of my identity and hers,” Krick says. “The more I shoot, there’s this question of, ‘Is this who I am going to be when I grow up? Am I going to turn into this woman?’”

Krick, who shoots with a Pentax 67 medium-format camera, calls the series “Natural Deceptions.” She sees her mom as defying the social constructs of age, sexiness, and beauty by adopting overtly sensual poses usually reserved for starlets, teenagers, and Krick’s own peers. Using wigs, makeup, nail polishes, and costumes to get her mom into character, Krick produces raw, jarring portraits with a bright, harsh flash.

“I’m not interested in beauty that is simply easy on the eyes,” Krick explains. “It’s disturbing how American audiences are shocked and made uncomfortable by bodies, especially female bodies, that veer outside the sliver of acceptable beauty. I’m more interested in a kind of beauty that is artificial, flawed, threatening, psychological, seductive, garish, and bites back.” The Cut spoke to the photographer over the phone about her relationship with her mother, her thoughts on female sexuality, and her understanding of people performing roles to fit into society. Click through the slideshow to see more of her work.

When did you first get interested in photographing women?I did my undergrad at the School of Visual Arts in New York and I was primarily shooting acquaintances, friends, and other people I had met in New York City. I was really interested in how people presented themselves and how people dressed. Then I read this article in Bust magazine about faux drag queens, or women who dress like drag queens and perform, and there were pictures of these women who are over-exaggeratedly feminine but still look like men. I thought that was so interesting, so I started styling my subjects in a way that was kind of drag-esque. That’s what I was doing when I went to grad school at Columbia College in Chicago.

What made you start shooting only your mom?At first I was photographing women I had met off the Internet, off of Craiglist and Model Mayhem. But then I photographed my mom for a series and then it just became about our relationship.

What was the first photo you took of her for this project?It isn’t on my website, but I dressed her up as myself. She came to visit me in Chicago and I wanted to take a picture of her, so I dressed her in my clothes, put her in a wig that looked like my hair, and photographed her in my bedroom. She became this strange hybrid of my identity and hers. Also, the way that I present myself is sometimes exaggeratedly feminine because I wear a lot of makeup, so I was interested in that. Youth and aging are themes in the project, too. A lot of the pictures that I reference are of younger women, so I think there’s this interesting thing that happens when my mom, who’s 55, is performing these roles.

Is it odd for you to shoot your mother as a sexual being?I’m interested in the way that the female body is sexualized. The poses that we see in culture are repeated over and over again, and they’re so common. But then having my mom perform them for me — I think it kind of emphasizes this aspect of performance. What does it mean that my mom is performing these sexualized poses for me? I think that’s an interesting question to ask. [Laughs.] I don’t think I necessarily have the answer to it.

Was your mom eager to be part of this?It just worked out the first time so I just keep using her. She’s definitely willing, but it’s not necessarily her favorite thing to do. She does it for me. But I think, I think there is this thing that happens when anybody is photographed. You see yourself in a different light. And the way that I photograph her often, she looks so different anyway that she’ll look at the photo and go, “Oh, is that me?”

How have people been responding to your photos?There’s this Skittles photo that look like she has erect nipples … I mean, it’s funny. We both thought it was hilarious. I remember showing this photograph in grad school at one of my reviews and one of the men in the room was like, “This is not funny. She should be embarrassed that her headlights are on.” I think a lot of the time, people view my work as a critique against my mom. I think that some of the pictures make them uncomfortable — like, this is an older woman being sexualized. I think it’s really powerful but can also make people uneasy and sometimes they lash out.

How has your relationship with your mom evolved through this project? Working with my mom has brought us closer and she understands my motivation for making the pictures. Growing up, I learned to construct my appearance from images I saw of women in popular culture and from my mother’s performance of femininity. I’m trying to play with that idea in the images where I photograph her dressed as me or styled after specific images of celebrities. I’m interested in how women are sexualized in imagery and how they are posed and styled to appear sexual. The cliché ways that women are shown in images in magazines and on the Internet influence how we perceive our own sexuality. In a way, these tropes can be completely meaningless or loaded depending on the context.

You said you were initially inspired by women dressed as drag queens and excess, but the more recent photos of your mom are more delicate, less exaggerated. When I first started photographing my mom I wanted to comment on cultural standards of beauty. I was afraid of making work that was personal, and that was one of the reasons that she is so heavily disguised in the earlier images. But of course the pictures are personal! I think the newer pictures are just as deceptive as the older ones. It doesn’t matter if she is wearing a wig and heavy makeup or a naked face — they are all pictures of her performing. All of the pictures intertwine the texture of reality with deception.

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"Me in the stairwell," 2012 "I actually took a picture of my mom in this stairwell and then I made a picture of myself as well bec... "Me in the stairwell," 2012 "I actually took a picture of my mom in this stairwell and then I made a picture of myself as well because I wanted to show them together. I think that’s the next step in this project, photographing myself as well. The picture of my mom didn’t really turn out well, so I just have this photo of myself. [Laughs.] This is the stairwell of my old apartment building in Chicago. I had really long hair and then I got it cut off last summer in this Louise Brooks haircut, so I was trying to channel her a little bit."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom as me," 2012 "This is my mom in my old bedroom dressed as me. This is one of my outfits — I have this ridiculous fur with hea... "Mom as me," 2012 "This is my mom in my old bedroom dressed as me. This is one of my outfits — I have this ridiculous fur with heads and feet on it [laughs] which I think is a little bit of an old-lady thing to wear. I’m just really interested in her dressing as me, but also in this childhood girl day-bed in this weird, colorful space. I mean, there’s definitely this absurd nature to this picture, I think, and the way that she’s crouched over on the bed is strange. It's this weird, awkward crouching and there’s this kind of vacant, but also terrified look on her face, which is kind of interesting."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom's neck," 2010 "I really like the exaggeration of this pose and how it’s iconic. It was inspired by a photo of Madonna. It’s v... "Mom's neck," 2010 "I really like the exaggeration of this pose and how it’s iconic. It was inspired by a photo of Madonna. It’s very sexy, but also really awkward and uncomfortable — the way her neck is so far back — but also kind of phallic. I think this is one of the first ones that I made where I was trying to match her to the background."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom wearing lipstick in bed," 2011 "I was interested in the idea of how lipstick being worn in bed could be something that’s real... "Mom wearing lipstick in bed," 2011 "I was interested in the idea of how lipstick being worn in bed could be something that’s really seductive and how sexy it is to wear makeup in bed. But I wanted to put a twist on that. With the way that her head’s kind of just floating and her bed starts to kind of look like a hospital bed because of the color of the sheets, it’s one of the harder ones to look at because there’s something about her psychology in this picture that makes her look unstable and dark. It’s the way her head’s twisted and the way that she’s not quite making eye contact."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom in gold," 2012 "I had shot this once before and then I realized that I needed to add the blue nail polish. I really am intere... "Mom in gold," 2012 "I had shot this once before and then I realized that I needed to add the blue nail polish. I really am interested in the seductive quality of the gold mattress and the way the flash hits it. It’s really beautiful to look at, but at the same time it’s really seedy. The bare mattress has a seedy connotation — it’s something that should be covered up. She’s wearing makeup but not to the point where it’s exaggerated."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom Laying in the Front Yard," 2012 "This is one of the ones where she’s kind of dressed as me. A lot of the time she’s wearing h... "Mom Laying in the Front Yard," 2012 "This is one of the ones where she’s kind of dressed as me. A lot of the time she’s wearing her clothes, my clothes, a combination of both, or just something that I picked out for a shoot. But I think that my personal style definitely transcends into the photograph. I don’t know if you can tell, but she has one of those peely face masks on. I like this idea of a second skin as more like a visible façade, but also that she’s snakelike and peeling on the lawn. In a weird way, it might reference plastic surgery." Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom after Greta," 2012 "I have this pic of her wood paneling in the background. In that one, I can see her performance evolving, ... "Mom after Greta," 2012 "I have this pic of her wood paneling in the background. In that one, I can see her performance evolving, like the expression she’s making on her face. It’s definitely something different. This picture mimics Edward Steichen's photograph of Greta Garbo."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom as a blonde," 2011 "I wanted to take a picture that from far away would be perceived as someone who is young. But once you co... "Mom as a blonde," 2011 "I wanted to take a picture that from far away would be perceived as someone who is young. But once you come up to it, you could see that it’s this older woman and she’s in a wig, which is obvious, because you can see along the hairline how the wig patch starts to show. There are also some things that are so over the top that she starts to look like a drag queen. I love the detail of the lipstick on her tooth. I shot from under because it’s not the most flattering angle, and to just get the sky in the background. There’s something iconic about the blonde against the blue sky."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom with her finger on her lip," 2011 "This picture is referencing the Chanel ad with Keira Knightley. I think there’s this ubiqu... "Mom with her finger on her lip," 2011 "This picture is referencing the Chanel ad with Keira Knightley. I think there’s this ubiquitous pose that women have of their finger in their mouth or touching their lip. But with my mom, it’s so exaggerated. Her hand seems so large and awkward. I definitely think there’s this image of performing sexiness in a way that doesn’t quite work out. I think this is one of the ones that can be seen as desperation." Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom in a blue robe," 2011 "This was actually inspired by a picture of Jennifer Aniston. I think it was a Rolling Stone magazine c... "Mom in a blue robe," 2011 "This was actually inspired by a picture of Jennifer Aniston. I think it was a Rolling Stone magazine cover of her? She’s topless and wearing little denim short-shorts. This one’s a lot different than some of the others because she’s not wearing all the makeup. There’s also something that channels a teenager in her pose, the way that she’s kind of vulnerable and hunched over. I think this is one of the ways youth is portrayed in this look."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom as me as a teenager," 2012 "I found this picture that my friend had taken of me when I was around 15. I had wet hair, I was d... "Mom as me as a teenager," 2012 "I found this picture that my friend had taken of me when I was around 15. I had wet hair, I was doing this over-the-shoulder sexy face and it’s such a ubiquitous image. It looked like a webcam shot, especially because the quality was so crappy. It’s really weird to look back and see these images of myself as a kid, totally unaware that I’m performing this idea of sexuality, so I wanted to make this image of my mom referencing that image of myself."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom in the front yard," 2013 "There’s so many photos of women in fields, so it’s referencing that. I liked the fur coat, the idea... "Mom in the front yard," 2013 "There’s so many photos of women in fields, so it’s referencing that. I liked the fur coat, the idea of this luxurious item in this situation that looks like a field. I think the pose is this weird, kind of awkward, in-between pose that I like. The exaggerated ones are at the beginning of the project and now that I’ve been working with her for a while, they’re a little more natural."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom's self portrait," 2011 "I was just trying to take a picture that looked like something for Facebook or Internet snapshots peo... "Mom's self portrait," 2011 "I was just trying to take a picture that looked like something for Facebook or Internet snapshots people take of themselves." Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom in front of the shower curtain," 2011 "I was thinking about green nail polish and there’s this Marilyn Minter painting of fee... "Mom in front of the shower curtain," 2011 "I was thinking about green nail polish and there’s this Marilyn Minter painting of feet with green nail polish on them. That color is so specific to teenage girls so I bought some green nail polish and put it on my mom and posed her in front of my little sister’s shower curtains. It’s interesting how the body is rendered at a specific age. I told her to do a pose with her hands, but she ended up closing her eyes on her own."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom with skittles in her shirt," 2010 "I got this idea from watching Sex and the City, this one epiosde where Samantha puts fake ... "Mom with skittles in her shirt," 2010 "I got this idea from watching Sex and the City, this one epiosde where Samantha puts fake nipples on. [Laughs.] I was interested in the erect nipple kind of being the female version of a hard-on, but how it’s a way to sexualize the body and the physicality of the body. A lot of the time, I was viewing the sexualization of her body through makeup and through artifice. I wanted to make a picture where it was sexualized through the physicality of the body. We both thought it was hilarious. It was actually shot against a couch — this was actually an accident. The couch is velvety so it went black. But I like how it kind of looks like a paparazzi or a club image."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom as a virgin," 2011 "I wanted to make a picture of her posed as the Virgin Mary. I like that there’s something virginal about ... "Mom as a virgin," 2011 "I wanted to make a picture of her posed as the Virgin Mary. I like that there’s something virginal about it. The makeup isn't vampy, the lace is delicate and the background, too. I used a backdrop that I made. This is some fabric that I bought."
Photo: Natalie Krick

"Mom on a gold couch," 2012 "This one was motivated by this fabric that I found and I placed it over the couch. A lot of the situa... "Mom on a gold couch," 2012 "This one was motivated by this fabric that I found and I placed it over the couch. A lot of the situations are about constructing the background as well. I like that there’s a little peek in between the curtains where you can see the blinds behind her head."
Photo: Natalie Krick